ArticleBMJ open2020
Mental health among Ebola survivors in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea: results from a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Resilience of mental health services amidst Ebola disease outbreaks in Africa.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Post-viral mental health sequelae in infected persons associated with COVID-19 and previous epidemics and pandemics: Systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence estimates.Journal of infection and public health · 2022Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence of stigma in infectious diseases, including COVID-19: a call to action.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Suicide, self-harm and thoughts of suicide or self-harm in infectious disease epidemics: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2021Pooled it
- Assessing anxiety, depression and insomnia symptoms among Ebola survivors in Africa: A meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Suicide in Muslim-Majority Countries Within the WHO African Region: A Narrative Review of Epidemiology and SocioCultural Factors.Public health challenges · 2026Article
- Long-term psychosocial sequelae of Ebola virus disease among survivors compared with contacts following the 2013-2016 epidemic in Liberia.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Ebola disease stigma: mixed methods insights from the 2022 Sudan ebolavirus outbreak.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Ebola Stigma and Its Impact on Outbreak Control: Lessons From Key Informant Interviews in Central Uganda.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2025Article
- A comprehensive review of mental health services across selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa: assessing progress, challenges, and future direction.Discover mental health · 2025Review
- Understanding Ethical Concerns Involving Vulnerable Human Participant Populations in Medical Research: Mixed-Method Analysis of Liberian Ebola Survivors' Experiences in PREVAIL I-VII.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Assessing Stigma Toward Mental, Neurological, and Substance Use Disorders in Liberia: A Population Representative Study.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2024Article
- Clinical health outcomes of Ebola virus disease survivors eight years post recovery: a cross-sectional study in Sierra Leone.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- 'The Lost Peace': Evidencing the Syndemic Relationship between Neglected Tropical Diseases and Mental Distress in Liberia.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Article
- The state of mental health among Ebola virus disease survivors through a cross-sectional study in Sierra Leone.BMJ global health · 2024Article
- How Depression and Anxiety Impact Adherence to COVID-19 Prevention Practices in Urban Liberia.Western journal of nursing research · 2024Article
- Prevalence and determinants of anxiety, depression and comorbid anxiety-depression symptoms among adolescents in Ebola-affected zones.BJPsych open · 2023Article
- Prevalence and correlates of suicidal ideation in the general public during the fifth wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo describe the prevalence and correlates of depression and anxiety among adult Ebola virus disease (EVD) survivors in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
designCross-sectional.
settingOne-on-one surveys were conducted in EVD-affected communities in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in early 2018.
participants1495 adult EVD survivors (726 male, 769 female). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) depression scores and Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scores.
resultsPrevalence and severity of depression and anxiety varied across the three countries. Sierra Leone had the highest prevalence of depression, with 22.0% of participants meeting the criteria for a tentative diagnosis of depression, compared with 20.2% in Liberia and 13.0% in Guinea. Sierra Leone also showed the highest prevalence of anxiety, with 10.7% of participants meeting criteria for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD-7 score ≥10), compared with 9.9% in Liberia and 4.2% in Guinea. Between one-third and one-half of respondents reported little interest or pleasure in doing things in the previous 2 weeks (range: 47.0% in Liberia to 37.6% in Sierra Leone), and more than 1 in 10 respondents reported ideation of self-harm or suicide (range: 19.4% in Sierra Leone to 10.4% in Guinea). Higher depression and anxiety scores were statistically significantly associated with each other and with experiences of health facility-based stigma in all three countries. Other associations between mental health scores and respondent characteristics varied across countries.
conclusionsOur results indicate that both depression and anxiety are common among EVD survivors in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, but that there is country-level heterogeneity in prevalence, severity and correlates of these conditions. All three countries should work to make mental health services available for survivors, and governments and organisations should consider the intersection between EVD-related stigma and mental health when designing programmes and training healthcare providers.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.